Update: I found this blog post very helpful, it seems like my DIY option would work!
We are hiking the Wonderland Trail in Washington State, USA this month. About 2 weeks on trail with zero access to power. I'm looking for a ultralight option to keep a single phone and possibly headlamp charged up for photos. There are a few commercially available products but I think I might be able to build something lighter weight and would love your thoughts. Many of these thoughts have come from an extensive Reddit post. The user ended up getting single port battery banks like this Nitecore NL2150RX and the Vapcell P2150A, but had trouble with the single port "back-flow" which shorted out and destroyed the cords, and was going to go back to a small battery bank style with a dedicated input and output port instead, which is why I think I want to avoid those single port options.
All these options are about $100 so I'm going to take cost off the table, no need to consider that.
Commercial Option 1: Something like this Biolite Solar 5+. 14oz/400g. 3200 mAh battery.
Commercial Option 2: Goal Zero Guide 12 kit, basically the Nomad 5 solar panel plus a AA/AAA battery pack. 19oz/541g. 10,000 mAh battery.
DIY option: Something like this 7.8w, 6v Lixada panel or this 10w, 5v Lixada panel for 3-3.5oz/85-100g with a separate battery bank like the Nitecore NB10000 at 5.3oz/150g for a total of 8.3-9 oz/235-255g.
The DIY option looks like it would be the lightest option with the highest battery capacity.
I know there are durability concerns with the Lixada panels, but do you see any electrical issues with using the Lixada panels to charge the battery bank?
We are hiking the Wonderland Trail in Washington State, USA this month. About 2 weeks on trail with zero access to power. I'm looking for a ultralight option to keep a single phone and possibly headlamp charged up for photos. There are a few commercially available products but I think I might be able to build something lighter weight and would love your thoughts. Many of these thoughts have come from an extensive Reddit post. The user ended up getting single port battery banks like this Nitecore NL2150RX and the Vapcell P2150A, but had trouble with the single port "back-flow" which shorted out and destroyed the cords, and was going to go back to a small battery bank style with a dedicated input and output port instead, which is why I think I want to avoid those single port options.
All these options are about $100 so I'm going to take cost off the table, no need to consider that.
Commercial Option 1: Something like this Biolite Solar 5+. 14oz/400g. 3200 mAh battery.
Commercial Option 2: Goal Zero Guide 12 kit, basically the Nomad 5 solar panel plus a AA/AAA battery pack. 19oz/541g. 10,000 mAh battery.
DIY option: Something like this 7.8w, 6v Lixada panel or this 10w, 5v Lixada panel for 3-3.5oz/85-100g with a separate battery bank like the Nitecore NB10000 at 5.3oz/150g for a total of 8.3-9 oz/235-255g.
The DIY option looks like it would be the lightest option with the highest battery capacity.
I know there are durability concerns with the Lixada panels, but do you see any electrical issues with using the Lixada panels to charge the battery bank?
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